HUGHTON ON: BRENTFORD

9 September 2016

Kieran Cleeves

The key talking points from the manager's press conference.

At his pre-match press conference, Brighton & Hove Albion manager Chris Hughton delivered the team news for Saturday’s clash, discussed the importance of returning to winning ways, analysed the threat from Brentford, and applauded the supporters for their vocal backing this season.

Team News: “Sam [Baldock] can’t play. Kazenga [LuaLua] has missed the last couple of days training, so we’ll assess him on Friday, but there’s obviously a chance that he won’t be available.

“He would be the only doubt if I’m looking at the squad, because we know about Richie Towell, and Liam Rosenior, who will be out for a long period of time now.

“Solly [March] is a touch behind and we’ve got to make sure we manage him very well. Sometimes when you’ve been out for so long, you can reach those heights and then level off.

“I don’t see Solly in contention for the next two games, but Connor [Goldson] and Uwe [Huenemeier] are both available.”

Bouncing back: “It’s always good to give them some time off. Normally when you have a little break, they are looking forward to getting back.

“We’re on the back of two performances where we know we weren’t at our best. At Reading, we got the point, but we weren’t good enough at Newcastle.

“One thing you always want to do after a defeat is put in a good performance, but also get the results we need.

“It’s now about getting a result on Saturday. It will be an indication of which team has settled back into a rhythm quicker and we have to make sure we do that.

“We have to get back down to what we do best. We have back-to-back home games, and we want to start that with getting a good win on Saturday."

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Threat from Brentford: “We’ve got to stop them having the influence of the ball that they can have. They’re not the biggest of sides, but what they have got is a lot of energy in the team and players that want to get on the ball.

“We’ve got to stop them having the effect they have on the ball and impose our game on them.

“We’re the team that are playing at home. We know you can’t stop all of their good players, because they’ve got some very gifted players on the ball, but we have to instil our game."

Home support: “With any team that wants to have any type of success, generally it’s based on a very good home record, so that’s something we want to continue.

“The crowd's expectation has risen, but also the noise levels have also increased, which has been brilliant.

“We know it’s tough away from home, but even at St James’ Park they [Albion fans] were heard. The support has been excellent and we’ll need that because we do want a good home record."